The Art Of Us

10 • She Was In Love With Me?

"Yes. I'll be right back. You can stay with me for tonight, alright?" Fred proposed, thinking that some space would do him good. FP nodded gratefully, as he wiped away a few tears from his cheeks.

Fred turned back to the Wyrm, where it was awfully silent except for the little cries of Alice, who had slid down against the wall with her knees to her chest.

"Alice?" Fred asked, before spotting her in the corner.

"Hey, sssh. It's all going to be fine, I promise you." He sat down next to her onto the floor and embraced her tightly. His arms always felt safe to her, as if anything would be okay if he was there.

"I've ruined everything, Fred. I was supposed to tell him but I didn't and now—" Alice rambled through sobs, her breath hitching.

"He's never going to forgive me." She said, as she kept on crying.

"He will. I am going to make sure of that. Okay? Go home, take a bath, watch some TV and go to bed early. I'm going to talk to FP." Fred assured her, before pressing a kiss on her hairline.

"It's too late." Alice said quietly, her lips quivering.

"Do you trust me?" Fred asked softly, making her look up to his eyes.

And the truth was, she did trust Fred, but she wondered if even he could fix something like this. She was scared she had broken the fragile line between them for good.

**

It was silent in Fred's house. The light shimmered, and the only sound that was being made was Fred making a sandwich in the kitchen. He walked over to the living room, where FP had sat down onto the couch with his head in his hands.

"Do you want something to eat?" It was a rethorical question, because when FP looked up, he accepted the plate with food Fred had made for him.

However, he couldn't eat anything. He was too upset for that.

"A son... I have a sixteen year old son." FP mumbled to himself, as if saying it out loud would help him feel differently.

"Did you know?" He looked at Fred.

"Yeah..." Fred answered a little hesitatingly, feeling the guilt he had for years coming to the surface. He knew it wasn't fair, but he had made a promise to Alice.

"Did she think I was going to be an awful father?" FP asked, his voice insecure.

That had to be the reason, right? His father was horrible, so he would be a horrible dad as well. It made sense. Maybe he could even understand why Alice had never said anything about Charles. It was to protect him.

"She would have wanted to raise Charles with you, that I know." Fred said softly. If someone had faith in FP, it had always been Alice.

"Then why didn't we? I missed out on sixteen years." FP said emotionally.

Fred took a deep breath, before revealing the real truth of their senior year in high school. It might not be his place, but he felt like FP deserved to know what she had really felt above anything.

"You said you thought we had something but the truth was... she saw big potential in you, FP. She believed that you would be a successful artist. So, when she got pregnant, she confided in me. That's why we became so inseparable, because she didn't want for you to be stuck in this town when she believed you were meant for the world outside of Riverdale. She needed a friend. I was that friend."

Fred had always thought that FP knew this, but it had become painfully clear that all this time, he thought they had betrayed him. If they had all been a little better at communicating, maybe things would've been different.